Knights of the Old Republic: Episodes from the Galactic Journey
by DefilorKotor
Summary: A series of oneshots in a story that spans all of KoTOR, and the story of Dominic Anoln and Bastila Shan. Potentially AU in future chapters. Reviews desperately appreciated.
1. It's Not A Game

It's Not a Game

Bastila Shan was worried. Why exactly was she worried, you may ask? Because the amnesiac Dark Lord of the Sith, now known as Dominic Anoln, had agreed to a death match in the Taris dueling ring against Bendak Starkiller, despite her requests for him to reject the offer Bendak had given him. This is why she was worried. His survival was essential, since he was supposed to, in time, lead them directly to the Sith's deepest secrets. She also found that if he died in that match, what would have been the point of saving him on the bridge of the _Dominance_ about a year ago? _And,_ Bastila thought, _It'd be a shame for such a nice, handsome person die in an aren- _Bastila stopped herself. _What the… Where did THAT come from!?_ She retaliated to her own thoughts, a flush of scarlet red flowing over her face like water. _There is no emotion, there is peace… _She thought, mentally rehearsing the Jedi Code. Revan/Dominic was evil! Why would she think that? How did she feel that, and how could she think that about a man who had murdered millions simply for control and power? About a Sith? _But his mind was reprogrammed, _She thought to herself._ That… thing… he was then, Darth Revan, is not the man he is now. _

_But he's Dominic now. _And how did she know that wasn't even worse?

Dominic was about to fight in the arena against Bendak, and he donned his armor he had gotten, custom made from Kebla Yurt's Equipment Emporium. It had cost nearly twenty thousand credits, but it was well worth its cost. It was similar to the light battle armor, but it was a black color, with navy blue pauldrons made of durasteel, and very dark grey gauntlets. He had also gotten an Enchani ritual blade, which he had personally upgraded and sharpened. Bastila approached him as he put on a blue/black Mandalorian helmet he had bought, heavily reminiscent of his old red and black mask he had worn when he was Darth Revan. "Hello again, Bastila." He greeted, quite politely, but with a tinge of confidence and slight fear due to the upcoming battle against the old Neo-Crusader. "Hi, Dominic. I just wanted to wish you… luck… in the death match…" she replied, slightly cringing at her own words. _Death Match_. The former Sith looked up at her, and noticed her tone. "Something wrong, Bas?" _Bas? Why did he call me Bas? _thought Bastila. _Is that some pet name for me?_ Bastila continued in her mind._ I suppose it's not such a bad nickname… It could be worse… _

Bastila quickly thought about all the nicknames he could have given her… and decided, yes, indeed, it was a good nickname in comparison. Then she realized she had been staring straight at Dominic, semi-consciously, for a good minute, thinking. "Oh, yes, sorry. No, it's nothing." Bastila said with haste. She quickly turned away without another word to him _She certainly is an odd one. _thought Dominic, shaking his head.

The crew of misfits, consisting of Carth Onasi, a veteran Republic Starpilot; Bastila Shan, a Jedi Padawan who had captured Lord Revan about a year ago in a strike against the Dark Lord's ship, where he was betrayed by his apprentice; Mission Vao, a Twi'lek who lived as a stealthy scoundrel of sorts; and Zaalbar (or 'Big Z' as Mission had called him), her Wookie friend, sat down in their seats in the arena in quite good seats that Mission had got them. "When you have lived like I have, you know where and how to make things happen." She had said, referring to how she had acquired the tickets. Bastila was still worried about Dominic. He might die, and if he died, she would die. They were bonded through the Force, because Bastila had used so much energy when she saved him that it had left her depleted of Force usage for nearly a week. That brought the two into one, in a Force bond. If one died, the other would be fatally wounded or even killed.

They all sat down in their respective audience chairs in the large arena ring, about 40 meters in diameter. Glass that was used for windows on spaceships covered the area between the two areas, the arena, and the audience area. The loud, cheery announcer yelled out through the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, come with me now on a journey to the savage days of years gone by… to a time when two combatants entered the ring and only one came out alive." Bastila cringed again. "They're illegal, they're banned, they've been outlawed for nearly TEN years – but we've got one for you tonight! A good, old fashioned DEATH MATCH!" Bastila swore under her breath. "Utterly barbaric…" The voice of the announcer completely overtook her voice. "In this corner, a living legend. A man whose very name would make his opponents shake in their boots… if any of them were still alive. Ha ha ha! Out of retirement for one last battle: BENDAK STARKILLER!"

"And who would be crazy enough to step into the ring with such a lethal legend? Who would be mad enough to face almost certain death merely for your enjoyment? Ladies and gentlemen, feast you wondering eyes on… the MYSTERIOUS STRANGER!" The crowd shouted with a deafening roar of applause, booing, and cheering. "And now, the moment we've all been waiting for… LET THE DEATHMATCH… BEGIN!" The bell dinged, and the two opponents ran towards each other.

It was the Mandalorian who struck first, bringing his vibrosword in an arc directly toward Dominic's neck, but the amnesiac brought his double bladed sword up to block it, and pushed the lower part under his opponent's sword. The old Neo-Crusader jumped back to avoid the attack, but got slashed on his leg. The former Dark Lord brought the Enchani double blade swirling around in a tornado-like arc, and swung it hard toward Bendak. Bendak parried it and used its momentum against Dominic, forcing the blade to continue another rotation before it slowed. Starkiller used the diversion to butt Dominic on the head with his sword hilt, sending Dominic staggering backward about three meters. The Mandalorian kept walking toward Revan, sword held high for a downward strike. Dominic quickly recovered and started rapidly attacking Bendak, forcing the older man to desperately block the onslaught of sharpened blades. He reached out, and grabbed onto the hilt of the double blade, pulling it forward, knocking Dominic quickly off balance and sprawling onto the floor. Bastila swore once again under her breath. "Arrogant… idiot!" She kicked the seat in front of her gently, as to not agitate the one sitting in it.

She knew she would have to do something. Strong as he was, Dominic couldn't do this alone. Bastila thought on how she could fix this… Then she had it. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. Concentrated on Dominic, lifting his spirits through the Force, giving him new heart.

Dominic looked up from the ground, got up, and began fighting again. Quicker, stronger, and better. Each strike, lethal and deadly, perfectly coordinated. He dodged and weaved himself through the wild and harmful blade strokes Bendak took, blocking and parrying flawlessly. Bastila fueled the fire, using her Force energy, channeling it through the bond, for the use of Dominic in the fight. Bendak started running, and then, he took out a thermal detonator from his belt, lifted it up and prepared to throw it… and Bastila mentally grabbed it and stuck it to his hand. Promptly, Bendak's hand exploded, ripping his arm off. He screamed in agony as Dominic ran up to him, Enchani blade in hand. The Neo-Crusader stood back up, and was met by the blade of Dominic as it stabbed him through the abdomen. Warm blood came from the wound, and Bendak looked down and then looked into the eyes of Dominic, covered by his mask. The Neo-Crusader got out one last word before he fell to the ground lifeless. "Congratulations." He said, grimly. The life left him and he fell to the ground. The crowd exploded with cheering and screaming. Bastila opened her eyes again, the rest of the crew had started standing up and cheering and yelling. And then, Bastila couldn't help it as she began to slowly clap. The announcer's voice came back. "BENDAK IS DOWN! It's over! It's over! The fight is over! Bendak Starkiller is down! Bendak Starkiller is dead! All hail the Mysterious Stranger, the greatest duelist to ever grace the rings of Taris!".


	2. Escaping Taris

Escaping from Taris and More Fun Activities

"These are just my slaves." said Dominic, trying to act the part of a criminal interested in being employed by the Exchange, a huge crime syndicate with connections everywhere. Bastila nearly screamed out at him when he said 'slaves'. She had to bite down on her tongue VERY very hard. It could have been because she hated being called a slave, and also could have been because she was nearly sold on the black market to infamous crimelord Davik Kang by the swoop gang, the Vulkars. Carth was mostly fine with it. Bastila figured Carth would follow Dominic just about anywhere, partly because he didn't have a choice in the matter due to the circumstances, also partly because he was such a good leader. After all, he was - is - the greatest strategist in the history of Republic, which was roughly 21,000 galactic standard years total. He lead a force that had been outnumbered 1 to 50 to victory against the Mandalorians, and had possibly the most brilliant mind ever conceived in this Galaxy. _But that mind was gone now, right? __It had to be. _Bastila couldn't imagine the repercussions should Revan remember BEING Revan. But now was not the time to focus on that. Davik Kang's henchmen brought them to a shuttle similar to a Luxury Swoop Bike, with a small refresher and decent seating. One of the henchmen asked Dominic a question, to which he replied "No, they are my personal servants. I'd like them to remain here." Dominic then reached over to Bastila and whispered "Before you ask, they wanted to know if I'd like to put you two in the cargo hold." Bastila's face molded into disgust, which remained this way for just about the whole ride to Davik Kang's Tarisian safehouse and residence.

"We cannot risk Bastila leaving the planet alive. Destroy the entire planet." demanded Darth Malak, ordering the destruction of Taris. "The... entire planet... mi'lord? But there are millions of innocent civilians down there, not to mention thousands of our own troops aswell." replied Admiral Karath, with shock evident in his voice, and the strategist inside him clearly opposing this idea. "Are you questioning my command, Admiral Karath? Surely you know of the punishments for such actions." Darth Malak replied in his metallic voice with threatening malice smothering his words. "Of course Lord Malak, it will be done."

They reached the hangar with relative ease, and once they were there, Davik met with them, accompanied by the bounty hunter they had seem several times before, Calo Nord. After the formalities, they began the escort to the quarters Dominic would reside in. Dominic noted that Bastila had disappeared, and wondered where she was. Just then, a huge rumble shook the entire building, and they rushed to a huge window, and witnessed a storm of laser bolts slam into the side of tall Tarisian building, then quickly collapsing it, where it fell into a walk way of the Upper City, crushing it and dooming all on it. It happened again, and again. They realized in a moment of utter shock and horror, the Sith were destroying Taris. "We need to get out of here!" yelled Dominic, and they all ran toward the hangar they had just came from. Davik ran ahead to the Ebon Hawk and ran up the loading ramp. He took out two heavy blasters, and pointed them at Dominic, Canderous, and Carth, who had come along too. "I'm afraid I can't take you with me. Now step away." he said, threatening them with the two guns. Just when they began to step away, a yellow blade fizzled on from the darkness and stabbed Davik through the back. "Well, I'm afraid my friends are coming with me." said Bastila, turning off her lightsaber as Davik fell to the ground, dead.

"Thank you Bastila." said Dominic, appreciatively. "Now quickly, we need to get our friends!"

They all ran aboard, and the Ebon Hawk blasted out of the Hangar, heading toward the Southern Upper City Apartments, and they called Mission through the communicators. "Mission, get Zaalbar and Teethree out here. Bring any civilians you can! The Sith are destroying the Taris, and we need to get out of here." Dominic said, quickly calculating that saving civilians could help them in the long run. When they got there, Mission had a small crowd of civilians, ten maybe. They were ushered aboard, and just when they were about to close the ramp, Janice Nall jumped aboard, and pulled her T3H8 unit onboard aswell. Panic arroused in the citizens, if it hadnt been aroused already. "Calm down! Everyone, please! Calm down! We're going to be fine!" called out Carth, not fully believing it himself. "What will we do!?"

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"

"WE ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!" said Mission, screaming out at the disgruntled crowd.

"Sith fighters inbound." said the Ebon Hawk's Computer. Dominic and Carth quickly ran to the center of the ship, and climbed into the two manually controllable turrets of the Ebon Hawk.


	3. The Way There

Dantooine

"Have you ever wondered why there's so many planets with 'ooine' in their name, Carth? There's Tatooine, Dantooine, Vactooine, Klatooine, Kinooine, and Minntooine. Why are there so many?" Revan asked, genuinely curious. "I've never really thought about it." replied Carth. It was true, he HAD never thought about it. "Did a Republic planet naming committee lose all of their remaining creativity one day and name them like that?"

"Now that you mention that, that's happened quite a lot, hasn't it... planets with '-aan' at the end seem to be quite frequent too. Galidraan, Alderaan, Manaan, Daan, Nyriaan, Ophideraan, Taloraan... Wow, you're right Dominic." responded Carth, realizing it might be true. "I think you should probably go back there with Bastila and help her with that traumatized crowd. I'll stay here and set the course to... where are we going anyway?"

"I'm not sure Carth, I'll go check in with Bastila." Dominic got up from the dark gray steel chair, and walked to the central navcomputer of the Ebon Hawk.

Bastila was trying to keep the crowd of frightened, dismayed people calm, which is something not easily said or done. "Calm down everyone, you're all fine now, that's what matters." said Bastila, desperately trying to reassure a crowd of aliens and humans alike. Dominic walked into the room, and announced something. "Everyone, listen up! Since me and my group of friends have not decided where we are going yet, we'd like to get you all off the ship and somewhere where you'd like to go. We have enough fuel to get to Coruscant and one other planet. Do you all wish to be dropped off at Coruscant?" Most people in the crowd nodded their heads. Dominic noticed Janice Nall hadn't nodded her head. "Well, we will drop you off on Coruscant with 50 credits each, and I'll see if I can't get you all some help from the Coruscanti Disaster Relief Corporation." Everyone in the crowd suddenly seemed more elated, and calmed down much quicker, but most were still traumatized from the destruction of their homeworld, "Thank you, sir!" A woman with two children said, almost happily. Almost. Dominic turned away from them all and glanced over at Bastila, then walked over to her. "Bastila, where do you think we should go after Coruscant?" he asked? Bastila replied swiftly, "Dantooine. There's a Jedi Enclave there where w- I mean, I, was trained. The Jedi Council will know what to do, and we will also find out what can be done with the Force Sensitivity you have." "Oh, brilliant." said Dominic.

Dominic walked back into the cockpit. "Did you figure out where we're going?" asked Carth, eager to be out and about. "We're going to Coruscant first. Punch in the coordinates." answered the former Sith. "Alright, Coruscant. Should be there in about... five hours. Might as well get comfy, it's gonna be a while." Said Carth, relaxing onto the chair of metal. Dominic was about to walk out of the room again and go to his bunk, then he stopped, and looked down. His hand went into a pocket in his jacket, and he pulled out a deck of cards. Pazaak cards. Then, he got an idea. "Hey Carth," He said, turning back around. "Yes?" replied the soldier, looking over his shoulder. Dominic asked him, "Do you want to play Pazaak? I got the cards here." Carth sat up a bit and looked at the cards in Dominic's hand. "Well, why not?" Carth said, cheerily. "You know how to play?" asked Dominic. "I heard most of the lesson that the guy on Taris gave you." Said Carth in response.

They played for a good three hours, with Mission and Zaalbar eventually joining in. And, eventually, Bastila came out from the crew quarters where


End file.
